Many videographers, filmmakers, photographers and other creative professionals routinely work with huge data files, from 4K video footage to RAW images, which can easily choke workflows without the right storage products.
A new desktop storage solution from Seagate’s premium storage brand, LaCie, delivers huge capacity and blazing speeds for keeping large files safe, secure and quickly accessible.
The LaCie 12big Thunderbolt™ 3 desktop RAID storage delivers up to 96TB of capacity in a 12-bay enclosure — making it the highest-capacity desktop storage solution on the market. Fittingly, the 12big made its debut at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas, where thousands of video professionals gather each year.
Along with leading capacity, the LaCie 12big also is the first product of its kind to utilize Intel’s new supercharged Thunderbolt 3 I/O — an interface aimed at professionals who need top performance.
LaCie added a hardware RAID controller and 7200RPM enterprise-class drives from Seagate for blazing speeds of up to 2600 megabytes per second (or 2.6 gigabytes per second).
“That’s fast enough to transfer a full Blu-ray movie in less than 10 seconds,” says Gaspard Plantrou, LaCie product manager.
“Having such a large-capacity, Thunderbolt 3 product gives us an even greater opportunity to serve the creative professional community,” adds Tim Bucher, SVP, Seagate consumer solutions group.
“Whether you’re talking about drones equipped with 4K cameras or all the video that’s being uploaded to YouTube every minute, having a tool that allows people to manage that content faster, better and easier is a huge differentiator for us.”
Massive Capacity, Great Engineering
With up to 96TB of capacity, the LaCie 12big has enough room for 100 hours of 4K footage.
“Up until now, this much capacity has only been available in a rack solution,” says Lance Ohara, senior director, product management at Seagate. “The fact that this product fits easily on a desk, with a fairly compact footprint, is pretty cool. A lot of great engineering went into this product.”
That engineering work includes both hardware and software advancements. The LaCie 12big features an internal power supply, for example — which means no hassles with a bulky power brick. Just plug it into a wall outlet or power strip and you’re all set. LaCie engineers also redesigned the LaCie RAID manager software.
LaCie at NAB
At the LaCie booth, customers, partners and the press also checked out demos of the LaCie 5big Thunderbolt™ 2, which features Seagate Enterprise Capacity 3.5 hard drives for maximum reliability. With up to 40TB of capacity, these drives deliver the performance needed to handle 4K video workflows. LaCie also demonstrated its 4TB Rugged™ RAID drive, which has the capacity and durability to capture 4K video in the field and the fast Thunderbolt speeds to quickly transfer it back to the post-production studio.
“This interface originally launched with our 5big and 8big products,” Plantrou explains, “and we’d heard from some creative professionals that it could be simpler, so that’s what we did with the new 12big product. We made it a lot easier for our customers to set up and monitor their storage.”
The LaCie 12big has dual Thunderbolt 3 ports for “daisy chaining” multiple devices to a computer via a single cable. It also has a USB 3.1 port to ensure universal compatibility. Users can connect to USB-C laptops and even USB 3.0 computers with an included USB-C to USB-A cable.
Seagate Storage Inside
Open one of the LaCie 12big’s front-facing bays and you’ll find Seagate Enterprise HDDs nestled inside. The drives are designed to operate in environments requiring round-the-clock availability. The Enterprise HDDs are rated for 8,760 hours of operation per year.
“One of the things we’ve been hearing from creative pros is that they want drives with longer duty cycles — way beyond what ordinary desktop drives offer,” says Ohara. “Our Enterprise HDDs deliver tremendous speed, capacity and reliability.”
The front-accessible drives make it easy to quickly remove and replace drives when needed. LEDs on the side of the 12big keep track of drive health and RAID build status, while four internal fans pull heat away from the drive components. The 12big’s all-aluminum enclosure also helps dissipate heat, “much better than plastic,” Plantrou adds.
The LaCie 12big will be available this summer in 32TB, 48TB, 72TB and 96TB capacities through the LaCie online store and LaCie resellers.
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